Akinori Iwamura’s lazy fly ball triple
Posted by Andy on May 25, 2010
Did you just see that?
In the top of the 8th inning against the Reds, the Pirates' Akinori Iwamura lofted a lazy fly ball to deep center field that fluttered gently down to the grass as he ran around to third base. Reds' centerfielder Drew Stubbs lost the ball in the lights and it landed 20-30 feet behind him. The corner outfielders converged on the ball as Iwamura reached third base.
Oddly enough, Iwamura didn't run all that hard out of the box. If he had, he might have had an inside-the-park homer. It always shocks me when a Japanese player fails to show hustle, as they generally hustle much more than American or Latino players.
Iwamura desperately needed that hit, as he was 4-for-55 coming in to the game.
And look who's pitching now? Everybody's 3rd-favorite active reliever over the age of 40, Arthur Rhodes. He's sporting a 0.49 ERA so far this season and just got nicely out of a jam. (Now his ERA's 0.47.)
May 25th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Seems sort of racist, but I suppose that's true. Be hustlin', Aki!
May 25th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I guess it is racist in the sense that I'm distinguishing among players of different race and speaking in generalities. If it isn't clear, I mean to say that I favor Japanese ballplayers as generally harder-working than everybody else.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Here's the play:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8342545&query=%26game_pk%3D264490
Wow. They must have moved the Metrodome to Cincinnati when the Twins left.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Looking at the video that Raphy linked, I think you might be overplaying Iwamura's lack of hustle. It looked to me like he got a slow couple steps out of the box, but made an honest to above average effort (running but not sprinting) until about 2/3 of the way to first at which point he turned it on after recognizing that Stubbs had lost the ball. It's hard to say whether he would have scored because they didn't show where the ball was when he pulled into 3rd, but it didn't seem like it took exceptionally long for the ball to be retrieved and considering he was leading off the inning they would have been less likely to risk sending him if it were a close call.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Racist? In the more liberal sense, perhaps; but in actuality, Andy's statement had nothing to do with race. Exhibiting cultural biases, however, falls more into the category of chauvinism {non-gender specific, of course}; and in this case, it is a demonstration of a bias toward a specific group, rather than against it.
May 26th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Cultural bias? Maybe. But also consider experience. Most of the Japanese players in MLB are established stars looking to prove themselves to another audience. Hence, they are more likely to work their butts off on every play than some 22-year-old who thinks their skills say it all for them or some 35-year-old resting on his laurels.